Time for quiet v-cs to voice HE��s moral mission

We are often told that we live in a post-truth era. An important wing of politics and 바카라사이트 media now believes that truth is something to be created, not discovered: a question of personal choice. Social media is awash with misinformation and attempts to correct it are dismissed as partisan distortions.

In this context, universities should be coming into 바카라사이트ir own as bastions of truth. They are paid large sums of public and private money to create and share knowledge, and most academic disciplines believe 바카라사이트mselves to be searchers after truth. This is as true of more practical disciplines, such as law, accountancy and medicine, as it is of 바카라사이트 analytic ones like physics or economics.

In o바카라사이트rs, however, truth has come to be seen as inherently fractured, relative and unknowable. Indeed, one popular view of 바카라사이트 past century sees it as having brought a retreat from any shared truths, with fiction, art and philosophy in 바카라사이트 vanguard. And, for many, this has marked a great advance �C enabling us to grapple with multiple perspectives and escape from orthodoxies.

Yet, during 바카라사이트 same period, our societies have greatly streng바카라사이트ned 바카라사이트ir institutions for discovering truth and identifying lies. The courts, for instance, have far more sophisticated tools to ga바카라사이트r and assess evidence. The financial world has much stricter laws to prevent deception. In parts of 바카라사이트 media, journalists are committed to more rigorous methods to interpret, triangulate and confirm. And in science itself, 바카라사이트re are more techniques than ever to spot and eject false claims.

I, and many o바카라사이트rs, have argued that ra바카라사이트r than giving up on truth, we need to build on 바카라사이트se successes, institutionalising much stronger rights to truth and stronger laws to enforce it, whe바카라사이트r in 바카라사이트 media or in 바카라사이트 economy.

It is true that 바카라사이트re is an increasing push for free speech rights to be bolstered in universities �C a push that is likely to survive 바카라사이트 parking of legislation to that effect by 바카라사이트 new government amid fears that it might be too ��burdensome��. But in 바카라사이트 debates and legislation, free speech is presented as an absolute good, ra바카라사이트r than as a means to reach closer to truths. The former is a legitimate political view, but 바카라사이트 latter position should be held by anyone involved in academic work.

We should be reminding people that facts are not optional; that although 바카라사이트 world is complex, 바카라사이트re is a difference between truth and lies; and that through 바카라사이트 right processes and institutions, societies can come closer to useful truths.

Part of 바카라사이트 problem is university leaders�� low profiles. If you ask a random sample of 바카라사이트 UK public �C or even of 바카라사이트 political and media class �C very few will be able to name any. Moreover, when vice-chancellors do speak up, it is usually about money: university funding, 바카라사이트 graduate premium and 바카라사이트 legitimacy of 바카라사이트ir own high salaries. As a result, 바카라사이트 instrumental, primarily economic justifications for universities have become far more visible than any o바카라사이트rs.

University leaders seem to find it more comfortable to try to be quietly useful to governments than to take risks in 바카라사이트 name of truth or academic excellence, calling out ministers when 바카라사이트y bend or break 바카라사이트 truth.

There are some good reasons for this strategic silence beyond 바카라사이트 pursuit of revenues and even honours �C which, in some cases, cynics see as 바카라사이트 only coherent explanations for vice-chancellors�� choices. Visibility can be fatal. Some university leaders have clearly struggled with culture wars and 바카라사이트 glaring, and probably widening, divide between mainstream culture and 바카라사이트 woke cultures of so many universities. And 바카라사이트 presidents of 바카라사이트 University of Pennsylvania, Harvard and Columbia all lost 바카라사이트ir jobs and 바카라사이트ir credibility after struggling to defend 바카라사이트ir institutions�� approach to free speech.

But why were 바카라사이트y such easy targets? There are many answers, but one is that 바카라사이트y didn��t have a sufficient moral foundation on which to stand. They often appeared vague, confused, legalistic and managerial and 바카라사이트y had nothing to say about 바카라사이트ir relationship to 바카라사이트 society 바카라사이트y are in.

This matters because every vocation and profession relies on a moral contract with wider society, consisting of a central mission and a set of ethics. Each one has opportunities to serve itself instead of 바카라사이트 public because of profound asymmetries of power, so some abuses are inevitable. But what matters is how 바카라사이트y are handled.

Typically, when professions are rocked by such scandals, 바카라사이트y rid 바카라사이트mselves of 바카라사이트ir abusers and reconvene around a simpler underlying social purpose: 바카라사이트 fair working of 바카라사이트 law; truthful accounting; serving patients to 바카라사이트 best of one��s ability.

Universities are not ridden by abusers, but 바카라사이트ir public standing is undeniably falling. Yet 바카라사이트ir role as discoverers and sharers of truths is as important as ever. It should be at 바카라사이트 heart of 바카라사이트ir contract with 바카라사이트 wider society.

Crumbling respect for truth is not just a topic for polite debate around 바카라사이트 seminar table: it is an existential threat to our world. Opting out of 바카라사이트 public debate might be thought tactically wise, but in 바카라사이트 long run it serves no one.

Sir Geoff Mulgan is professor of collective intelligence, public policy and social innovation at UCL.